Along with other software firms, SAP has been experiencing a slowdown in growth in the US, the world’s biggest market.
The falling value of the dollar against the euro has also added to the German firm’s difficulties, eroding the value of its dollar sales in the US.
The US market accounts for about 30% of SAP’s licence sales.
The firm, which is the world’s biggest business software maker, said licence sales grew by 4% during the fourth quarter, compared with 15% in the previous three months.
News that SAP had missed not only the market’s but its own forecasts brought a swift response from investment bank Goldman Sachs, which downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘neutral’.
“It’s a pretty bad miss,” said John Segrich, an analyst with JP Morgan. “While Europe is improving, the US has certainly slowed, and the US has been the engine of growth for SAP.”

Filed in life on Monday, September 21, 2009 · No Comments »